Metal objects, including various tools, weapons, jewelry, and small decorative elements of clothing, were not only a manifestation of the wealth of the grave goods of the buried elite members from Castillo de Huarmey but also a symbol of social prestige. Among this group of artifacts, a set of trapezoidal metal plaques, often decorated with a geometric motif in openwork technique, deserves attention. These plaques likely adorned the garments of the aristocracy. Such items were found alongside the most important members of the elite buried in the studied necropolis. These included both women engaged in refined weaving and men involved in basketry, suggesting that they might have been a kind of guild insignia. The presented plaque was found in the grave goods of the Master Basketmaker from the Gallery of Elite Craftsmen. The bronze arsenic ornament was decorated with three small holes arranged along its shorter side, which could have been used to attach it to fabric.
Patrycja Prządka-Giersz